Justin Jones, 17, of Birmingham, was taken into custody at about 5:15 p.m. at work at Sonic in Homewood, police said. He is charged with murder in the slaying of Jarmaine Walton, 15, of Birmingham.Jarmaine, a student at Booker T. Washington K-8, died about eight hours after he was shot in the head.

Police Chief A.C. Roper said Jarmaine was an "innocent bystander" and not the intended target in the shooting. He did not say whether the two teens were acquainted. Jones will be held in the county jail. His bond is set at $200,000.

The incident happened about 7:20 p.m. that Sunday night at the downtown park. Witnesses reported hearing about six shots in the park where hundreds, if not thousands, were gathered at the time."This investigation required the patience of the
community, detectives, and media in order to help bring closure to this case
for Jarmaine's family," Roper said. "This crime occurring at Railroad Park is not indicative
of the daily example of the thousands of citizens and visitors that spend time
enjoying the venue. We will continue to be vigilant in our crime fighting
efforts to keep the citizens and visitors of Birmingham safe."

Roper, Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Deputy Chief Herman Hinton, Capt. Henry Irby and homicide Lt. Scott Praytor held a 6 p.m. press conference to announce the arrest. The chief declined to discuss specifics that led to the charges against Jones, a high school dropout. "We've been extremely cautious protecting the inner workings of the investigation,'' Roper said. "Even today they (detectives) assured me they would rather not get into the particulars. Let's let that play out in the justice system."

15-year-old Jarmaine Walton

It appears the identification and subsequent arrest of Jones moved swiftly today. Roper said once they got the warrant from the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, they handed the information over to the department's Crime Reduction Team.

Within 30 minutes, CRT members had figured out where to find Jones and were en route to capture him. "He did not resist arrest,'' Roper said. "It was very peaceable under the circumstances."

There has been much talk about video surveillance cameras at the park. After an incident there in 2012, park officials said they had 31 cameras which are monitored off site and on site by a private company. Roper and park officials have declined to say what, if anything, was caught on tape.

Thousands of dollars in reward money was offered by private citizens, in addition to $5,000 from Crimestoppers, but officials would not say whether anyone came forward to name Jones as the shooter. "The bottom line is all of that comes together: the reward money, diligent work, beating the bushes, going under every rock and we've done all of that over the last month."

Birmingham attorney Eric Guster, who was the first to offer $1,000 for information leading to an arrest, said tonight he doesn't know whether a tipster led to the arrest. "I'm waiting on them to let me know,'' Guster said. "If it needs to be paid out, we will do it as soon as we can."

Roper said Jarmaine's slaying in Railroad Park garnered more attention than usual. "But rest assured, we go after every homicide suspect with the same zeal and dedication to duty and would have it no other way,'' he said."Unlike television, I wish we could solve every case in 60 minutes and take commercial breaks, but quite often we have to build the case and we have built this one successfully,'' he said."I never doubted we would solve the case, but I knew it would take time."

Mayor Bell said he hopes the arrest of Jones sends a message to Birmingham residents, especially the city's youth. "You cannot fire a gun, kill someone and expect to get away with it,'' the mayor said. "It may take an hour, it may take a day, it may take a week or month or year, but sooner or later you will be brought to justice. Use your brains young people."

"This cannot be a way of life. You cannot get away with a life of crime,'' Bell said. "It's just a waste of the lives that have been taken, and the life of the person who takes the life of another. If you don't learn anything else, learn that senseless violence does not work in Birmingham, Alabama."

Roper said detectives notified the family of the arrest. "The detectives did notify the mother and she was very pleased we were able to bring it to a successful conclusion,'' he said. "It doesn't bring back Jarmaine as we all know, but the bottom line is we have a role to play. We'd rather not have these senseless incidents, but when one occurs, we put the full weight of this police department into bring it to a successful conclusion."

Jarmaine's family tonight released this statement: "Although this is welcome news that Jarmaine's killer has been brought to justice, it's still a sad day in Birmingham. Our family will never get Jarmaine back, but another family will lose their loved one to the criminal justice system. We ask that you keep our family in your prayers and respect our privacy at this time."

This story was updated at 7:35 p.m. to include more details and comments from Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper and Birmingham Mayor William Bell.Updated at 9 p.m. to include a statement from Jarmaine's family.